Drones are rapidly becoming a cost and time effective solution to traverse densely populated environments as well as to reach remote locations with limited infrastructures. Their capability to move rapidly from one point to the next and an overall cost reduction of their core technologies is capturing attention from major companies seeking affordable solutions for cargo transportation and delivery.
Drones have been developed by logistics companies with the purpose of cargo delivery. Companies mostly rely on multi-propeller drones (i.e., multicopters), leveraging their vertical take-off and landing capabilities, to deliver parcels precisely, even in cluttered environments. Drones are also very maneuverable and easy to design and manufacture. However, proposed platforms have intrinsic safety drawbacks that could prevent their deployment. Unshielded spinning propellers are a serious threat and can cause severe injuries in cases of collisions with people. Also, the drone itself and the cargo are not protected in the case of a collision, which raises questions about the possibility of transporting fragile packages. Furthermore, delivery of bigger and heavier cargos require increased drone dimensions, which makes it harder to store and to transport to the deployment point. This becomes even more problematic for the operator if there is a need to deploy several multicopters. The majority of commercially available drones provide only limited protection. The most popular approach is to add lightweight hulls or small plastic elements around the propellers, as is illustrated in FIG. 1. The effectiveness of this solution is limited to protection against side collisions and it is not suited if users want to grab the drone while it is flying.
Furthermore, even where known drones may be implemented with protective cages, it is, however, hard to place cargo inside the cage. None of these platforms are directly suited for cargo transportation due to limited space inside the cage. Attempts to carry cargo with such known drones would also negatively affect propulsion and stabilization systems. While there are several foldable drones available on the market, none of them are integrated with protective structures. There are no foldable platforms with protective structures that can transport payloads, while simultaneously providing safety for the drone, people, and cargo.